Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorney Kathleen Tana Successfully Represents Pro Bono Client

Unsung Heros - Pro Bono Supplement (The Legal Intelligencer)

Kathleen Tana represented a SeniorLAW Center elderly client in a protracted custody matter and appeal to Superior Court to obtain permanency for a 10-year-old child who had been abandoned by his mother. She spent in excess of 100 hours in successfully asserting the client's right for custody.

This senior caregiver had legal custody of this child for nine years (currently 10 years old) prior to the onset of litigation. Client found the child when he was 21 months old on the street, and sent the child's 6-year-old brother to get the mother. The mother told the client to keep the child, and the client raised the child since April 1999. The mother was in and out of rehab and rarely saw the child; father of the child is deceased.

The senior client obtained legal and physical custody of this child, and has applied for him to be admitted to a private school in Lancaster, Pa. The mother and child have open telephonic communications, and Tana ensured that the best interests of this child were met.

The trial court found that the senior had been acting in loco parentis for the child for nine years. Tana handled the case throughout successful outcome at trial and then through appeal, briefing, and oral argument before the Superior Court. The Superior Court affirmed the lower court order, ensuring the child a stable, secure permanent home with the only caregiver he's ever known.

An associate in the firm's legal services department, Tana focuses her practice in domestic relations and family law.